Monday, November 12, 2012

A second representative has
been added to the board of directors of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.(NYSE:AMD), by its major
shareholder, Mubadala Development. Mubadala is actually an investment arm of
the Government of Abu Dhabi. According to the statement issued by the
Sunnyvale, California-based company yesterday, Mubadala has chosen to nominate
Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi to AMD’s board.

In an e-mailed statement, AMD spokesman Drew Prairie
explained the decision in detail. Mubadala’s long-time association with AMD and
its dedication to the company is absolutely in line with the appointment of
Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi. Another reason for this addition to the AMD board is
due to the extreme importance of the semiconductor industry to Mubadala.

Analysts have predicted quite some time back that the
personal-computer market is headed for a slowdown, which will adversely affect
AMD. It is quite possible that the firm will face acute shortage of cash flow,
which will prevent it from introducing new models in the market and thus
turnaround its fortunes. Mubadala owns 20% of AMD and they are looking to
combat the aforementioned slowdown in the future, by broadening its oversight
of AMD’s management.

According to the statement by AMD, Yahia is in charge
of its metals, mining, utilities and advanced materials and products, being an
executive director of Mubadala Industry. He was previously a partner of
McKinsey & Co. and is a degree holder from the Ecole Centrale Paris and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Abu Dhabi
got its stake in AMD via Mubadala when it purchased the manufacturing division
of the company, which gave birth to the contract chip manufacturer
Globalfoundries. This transaction took place 4 years back in 2008 and now AMD
is Globalfoundries’ main customer. Shares of AMD went up 2.5% to $2.03 in New York at the close,
although their stock has dropped 62% in 2012.